Urban sketching

I have been distracted from my portrait course by a side trek into the wonderful world of urban sketching. I had not heard of this before, but when we went to visit the closed historic house in Hobart, there were a group of people happily sitting in various parts of the grounds in the sun, sketching away. We asked if they were an art group and they said they were part of the worldwide urban sketching movement, where people gather in groups to sketch various urban environments. It's a big thing apparently. I hadn't heard of it before ... but boy was that a rabbit hole waiting for me to fall into. So many tutorials! So many suggested art supplies! 

So I found some random pictures of random picturesque streets (not in Canberra! we only have 1960s concrete and gum trees) and started on some pen and wash. It is very soothing to do after the tribulations of acrylic portraits. Especially if you embrace the 'wonky' aesthetic. These are the first ones I did and they are not very good but I am doing more and getting better.

Everyone suggests going 'straight in' with ink to give you more certainty of line ... I do not need certainty of line, I need walls that obey the laws of physics, so I have now started using pencil to sketch out the shapes and that has helped tremendously.